ABC Election Coverage: 2007 New South Wales Election

Barwon

Rural North-West

Very Safe National 14.3%

MP

Ian Slack-Smith (NAT) since 1995. He is retiring at the 2007 election.

Profile

Vast north-west rural electorate stretching from Moree, Narrabri and Coonabarabran in the east to Cobar and Bourke in the west, with other major centres including Walgett, Brewarrina, Warren, Coonamble and Gilgandra.

Redistribution

Loses some smaller council areas to the east of Moree and Narrabri, but gains the vast Bourke, Bogan and Cobar shires to the west from Murray-Darling. Overall this has cut the National Party's majority from 16.2% to 14.6%.

History/Trivia

Barwon is the state's second largest electorate, covering 221,577 square kilometres or 27.7% of the state. Put together with neighbouring Murray-Darling, the two electorates cover 58.9% of the state's area. Barwon was first created in 1894 with the introduction of single member electorates, but abolished in 1904 when the Legislative Assembly was reduced in size following the creation of the Federal parliament. Re-created in 1927 after the proportional representation experiment, it was a seat held by both sides until 1950 when it was won by the National Party's Geoffrey Crawford. Safely in National Party hands since, it has had only three members in 57 years, Crawford 1950-76, former Deputy Premier Wal Murray 1976-95, and Ian Slack-Smith since 1995.